Chapter 664: The weirdness of Xiantian

The answer is, Li Qi can indeed read minds.

After being strengthened again, his True Knowledge could easily probe even Li Shiwei's shallow thoughts, let alone Ju Ye, a Ninth Grade Cultivator, in front of him.

Thus, Li Qi continued, "Ju Ye, you are from the Fengji Sect, which has now been annihilated by your enemies, the Zhanhu Gate. You were absorbed by the Zhanhu Gate, used by them, and you steal and rob using your Divine Movement Technique…"

"What a terrible name, so rustic." Li Qi curled his lips, then continued, "After your sect was destroyed, you had no choice but to be controlled by Restrictions. You live by doing these things daily. However, you broke through to Ninth Grade a few months ago. With your ability, you could have left long ago. The reason you haven't left is because you still have a Senior Sister, who is still in the Unranked stage, and you can't take her with you."

"No way, brother, your Senior Sister, after being captured by the Zhanhu Gate, has already given birth to three children… You are truly, deeply infatuated." Li Qi said, while continuing to scan his mind, further probing his surface thoughts.

Although he couldn't see memories, surface thoughts were enough for Li Qi to understand this person.

But as Li Qi spoke, the Ninth Grade Cultivator named Ju Ye was first astonished, then terrified, and when 'Senior Sister' was mentioned, his expression turned to anger.

But after the anger, he became confused again.

The other party… understood him too well. If this wasn't through specialized investigation, it would be absolutely impossible to know such details, unless someone could read minds.

But mind-reading was too absurd. Soul-searching techniques did exist, but he had heard of the terrible consequences of soul-searching, and the person in front of him clearly hadn't used soul-searching on him.

So, what ability did he possess that made him worthy of such a Great Power investing so much effort to investigate him, even setting up a trap specifically to intercept him?

What exactly was he after?

But what Ju Ye didn't know was that everything he thought about was already laid bare before Li Qi.

The strengthened True Knowledge had granted Li Qi the ability to peek into the shallow thoughts of weaker individuals.

Li Qi clapped his hands, "Instead of overthinking, why don't you answer my question first, little brother? Do you want to be my guide? It seems you know this Bailu City very well."

Li Qi's words sent a shiver down Ju Ye's spine. He immediately knelt on both knees, kowtowed, and loudly said, "If Senior has a request, I would not dare to refuse!"

"Don't be so nervous. Compared to the people here, I should be much easier to get along with. By the way, if you can help me understand this city, how about I help you rescue your Senior Sister? Although I think she probably won't be too willing to leave with you…" Li Qi said.

The mortal world of Immortal Heaven was truly like that of wild beasts; women who were abducted naturally wouldn't have a good end.

However, this Ju Ye in front of him was quite loyal, which was why Li Qi chose him.

There should be other good people, but since he encountered him, he would choose him. Li Qi didn't care anyway.

Hearing Li Qi's instructions, Ju Ye immediately nodded and replied, "I am willing to serve Senior!"

Li Qi looked at his shallow thoughts.

Ah, this person didn't believe Li Qi's promise at all. He was simply acting on his desire to survive, allowing Li Qi to command him. In reality, he didn't think Li Qi was any different from others.

But, it didn't matter.

"First, take me around outside the city, then we'll go inside the city." Li Qi directly stated his request.

"Inside the city? Does Sir intend to pay to enter the city?" Upon hearing this, Ju Ye was shocked.

The cost of entering the city was not cheap.

Li Qi merely smiled, looking at him.

How could he? He didn't have a single penny on him, and he had never encountered the Spirit Stone of this world.

Of course, Ju Ye would pay.

Ju Ye understood, clearly the other party wasn't planning to pay himself.

Although it pained him a bit, for the sake of his life, he immediately put on a smile: "Then… shall we start now?"

"Of course, let's go." Li Qi stood up: "Lead the way."

Ju Ye immediately stood up and began to lead the way for Li Qi, explaining Bailu City.

Although Li Qi could understand it himself, it was clearly much easier with a guide and would save time.

Thus, the tour began.

As the tour progressed, Li Qi officially began to understand Bailu City.

It turned out that Bailu City was built by a powerful expert, 'Ming Bailu', who was about to Ascend. His purpose in building this city was to shelter a region.

Of course, that's what was said, but in reality, this city had extremely high taxes, and the entrance fee was also extremely high. Whether it was housing or various approvals, everything was ridiculously expensive.

Clearly, this city was a tool for accumulating wealth, used for making money.

However, being expensive had its advantages, which was that it was very safe here.

Bailu City did not allow any outside School to act presumptuously, and it didn't matter what the visitors did. The rule was that once you entered, you could leave.

Yes, you could enter. Even if you committed the gravest offenses, as long as you were within the city, you would be fine. Even if you violated the city's rules, there was no need to worry; the most severe punishment in the city was merely expulsion from the city, never to enter again.

Of course, what happened after being expelled from the city was another matter.

In any case, the city itself was definitely safe.

To protect the safety within the city, it was necessary to prevent ambushes outside the city as well. Therefore, guards would patrol outside the city to eliminate necessary threats.

It was precisely because of this that many, many independent Cultivators gathered here, either for safety or for business opportunities. For various reasons, they formed organizations similar to 'slums' outside the city, and many people lived there.

The guards didn't care about these people; in fact, these people were beneficial to the guards, as their bribes could provide the guards with more Cultivation resources.

Over time, this led to the current structure of Bailu City.

"According to this, it seems no one can counterbalance Bailu City? Is it a giant force that dominates this area?" Li Qi said while walking on the street.

"The City Lord of Bailu is incredibly powerful, the Supreme being within a hundred thousand li radius. He once defeated thirty Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators with one hand. It seems Ascension is already within his grasp; it's just a matter of when he will depart." Ju Ye said with reverence.

"Nascent Soul Realm? Oh, I forgot to ask, how are your Cultivation grades divided?" Li Qi nodded slightly and asked.

This question was a bit odd, causing Ju Ye's expression to turn a little strange.

What was going on with this Great Power…?

But he dared not ask more, and simply began to display his Cultivation, even though it would seem a bit out of place on the street.

Li Qi had told him to kneel and kowtow on the street, and he wouldn't have dared to say anything, let alone just display a bit of his Cultivation.

Thus, Ju Ye voluntarily began to demonstrate his Cultivation and display his Dharma Hall on the street.

However, in just an instant, before others even noticed, Li Qi reached out and pressed down on Ju Ye.

"Alright, I already know. Stop now, and wait for me." He said to Ju Ye, then stood still, lost in thought.

With just a glance, under the analysis of True Knowledge Dao Resonance, he had completely understood the structure of the Dharma Hall.

This so-called Dharma Hall was actually a compression Formation.

By constructing one's Inner World into a compression Formation, one could extract more from heaven and earth, and then transform the Golden Core into a pure energy core.

Through the compression of the Dharma Hall, the Golden Core could become more solid, though in Li Qi's view, a more solid Golden Core was actually useless.

Everything was for combat power, for stronger killing power, even sacrificing the Perfection of the Golden Core for this.

In Li Qi's eyes, this was a case of penny wise and pound foolish.

As for killing power, you could always develop some Divine Ability, develop some magical techniques, and make up for killing power through those techniques. Why go to such lengths with your cultivation method?

Doing this would narrow their future path. The entire Cultivation system would have to be built upon the Dharma Hall afterward. To re-Cultivate would be incredibly difficult, perhaps requiring Reincarnation to start over.

The foundation of early Cultivation was very important; it was generally considered the most crucial basis by that Dao Orthodoxy.

Shaman Dao would construct the雏形 of their Inner World during this period. For this, the Shaman Gods even persuaded the Four Symbols to give all Shaman a green light, allowing them to borrow the Four Symbols Divine Qi as the foundation of their Inner World.

Dao Orthodoxy created the Golden Core, laying the groundwork for future flawlessness and freedom.

Martial Dao refined the five organs, tempered the Physical Body, and nurtured a strong Qi and blood, forming the framework for Martial Dao Divine Intent.

Human Dao began to restrain themselves with rules, forming the rudimentary form of rules, thereby developing the foundations of 'Ritual', 'Law', 'Mohism', 'Miscellaneous', and so on, thus forming specific Cultivation paths.

Li Qi had not known the foundations of Demonic Dao and Spirit Dao before, but after receiving the 'reward' from that Spirit Dao Great Power, Li Qi gained a deeper understanding of these two Dao Orthodoxys.

Demonic Dao, at the Ninth Grade, nurtured the Demonic Heart. The so-called Demonic Heart was a mind that transcended common sense, a mind that held itself Supreme. Regardless of which branch of the Four Demons, this point was very important.

From the Demonic Dao Li Qi knew, the Demonic Prince was a typical example of this. He possessed a kind of confidence that transcended common sense, confident that he was absolutely invincible among peers, and he truly achieved it.

Spirit Dao, however, was completely different from other Dao Orthodoxys. The foundation laid by Spirit Dao at Ninth Grade was not a Dao Heart, or a Cultivation foundation, but an ability, an ability to interpret and analyze information, that is, the ability to 'construct a complete world through data'.

Through extensive training and contemplation, a Ninth Grade Spirit Dao Cultivator needed to be able to see a function and have its graph appear in their mind, hear a sound waveform and know what the sound was saying, see a string of wavelengths represented by text and know what color of light it was.

Because these were essentially the same, they were all 'information'. When a Spirit Dao Cultivator came into contact with 'information', they should directly and clearly read its essence, and then infer the complete picture of the object represented by the information.

Therefore, Spirit Dao dared to say that they could sit at home and contemplate to obtain the essence of the Universe, to obtain a 'a priori' 'essential' Dao, and then, through this 'Dao', deduce the appearance of the entire Universe.

Another example is True Dragon. They directly skipped Ninth Grade. As long as a True Dragon wasn't a defective product, the Ninth Grade stage was dispensable for them, because as perfect beings, their foundation could change according to the environment. This stage was irrelevant to them.

These many examples are just to illustrate one thing: all of these, all kinds of Dao paths, when laying their foundation, focus on helping Cultivators better pursue the Dao, better understand this world, and perfect their Dao path through their own methods. If they can run to the very forefront and take an unprecedented new step, that would be best.

However, as a First Grade world, the Immortal Heaven' approach was completely different from the True World.

Combat power, combat power, and stronger combat power—this was their entire Cultivation philosophy.

Construction, pursuit of the Dao, thinking about how the world is—these were completely unnecessary for the basic Cultivators of Immortal Heaven.

They only needed to fight, to fight better. Everything was for greater killing power. Yet, despite such emphasis on increasing combat power, Immortal Heaven paradoxically disliked invading others, and even avoided external combat, instead turning its surroundings into an Outer Void, preventing others from approaching.

Li Qi looked up at the sky.

How exactly did such a civilization develop? (End of Chapter)